Fasting (not)
Today was very challenging. This is my third Tuesday in a row to pray and fast. During the past two weeks, at lunch I would take a walk. Getting out of the office decreased my desire to eat lunch, plus I got to enjoy the sunshine. The first week that I fasted, I walked around the neighborhood that I work in. It's halfway between Downtown and Hillcrest. I was thinking about how I could best put my dollar to use. Rod had given some great ideas....candy bars, extra tip money, kids tossing coins in the fountain.... Guess what lines the streets around the area that I work in?? Parking meters!!!! I knew what I wanted to do - before the next Tuesday, I got dimes and nickles and was prepared to feed parking meters as I walked.
Week two was fun. Although I didn't get caught, I understand the parking enforcement people really give you a hard time for feeding other people's meters.
Now, today was a different. Today was the day the office chose to do a potluck to celebrate all the February birthdays in our office. My contribution was a chocolate cake that I baked last night. All morning long, I kept thinking of ways to leave the office without insulting the birthday people. As lunchtime approached, I knew there would be no leaving - especially since my doctor was one of the birthdays. I was okay until the pizza and fried chicken got delivered.
I had to retreat to my office to escape all those wonderful smells. I grabbed my bible because there was a scripture reference that had come to mind that morning that I wanted to research. You will never believe what I found as I turned towards 2 Corinthians - one of Ed's message notes on Moses! (I have been working thru something and am getting many Moses references.) Ed's message notes dealt with Moses increasing intimacy with God. Exodus 33:13 says "teach me your ways". My study bible then referenced Exodus 34:6-7 "and He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming "the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished...."
Gaining deeper intimacy with God seems to be at least part of what God has been trying to get me to work on. These past few weeks I have been relying on God more and more and he keeps meeting me right where and when I need him most. The passage about compassion, faithfulness, forgiveness and justice also speak to a situation that God saw me thru with an amazing outcome.
While I was reading and re-reading these few passages, as well as Ed's notes an entire half an hour went by! I'd like to say I was strong and the next 30 minutes went by uneventfully, but I can't - I caved when I heard someone made homemade mac n cheese.
I treasure the 30 minutes I spent reading and journaling, and I am really glad God forgives us when we slip up! Since I didn't make it outside to feed the meters, I'll be fasting again on Thursday and walking around the neighborhood armed with nickles.
Posted in: on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at at 7:15 PM
You're so clever to think of the parking meter feed. What a great way to positively affect someone who is probably already stressed out from being behind schedule. I didn't know that feeding the meters were frowned upon - stay safe out there!